A row between two schoolgirls ended with an Ashford mum punching a 15-year-old girl in the face, breaking her nose.

The youngsters had fallen out amid claims of unkind words to one of them, who had been diagnosed with cancer.

But a judge at Canterbury Crown Court heard how Stacey Robinson, 36, attacked the schoolgirl in Hythe Road, Ashford during an exchange of words.

Robinson, of Breadlands Road, Ashford had walked up to her victim – who later needed surgery - and told her: “Do you think it’s f***** funny to hit my daughter who has cancer?

"This is how you throw a punch!”

After hitting her victim, Robinson went straight to Ashford police station and reported her actions – despite there being no official complaint at that time.

Now Robinson has been given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years after admitting the assault.

She was also ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work for the community.

Prosecutor Trevor Wright said the background to the incident was the diagnosis of cancer for Robinson’s daughter some years ago.

“At the time of the offence the cancer was in remission and she and the victim had at one time been friends, but that relationship had broken down.”

He said in March last year the victim and her friends were walking in the street when they saw Robinson walking with her children and decided to cross the road.

Robinson then shouted at the schoolgirl: “Do you think its f***** funny to hit my daughter who has cancer?’

Her victim then denied the assault, but Robinson replied: “That’s b*****t”, and then struck her twice in the face.

After the attack, Robinson went and reported what she had done to police telling officers the victim had shouted at her daughter: “Ain't you dead yet?”

She alleged that the schoolgirl had grabbed her hair first, forcing her head down and she had lashed out twice – but regretted her actions and was now remorseful.

The victim was later questioned as she received treatment for her broken nose at the William Harvey Hospital. She denied starting the incident.

"This is how you throw a punch!” - Stacey Robinson

Mr Wright said the girl is still suffering from her injury and will have to wait until she is 18 years old before she can receive corrective rhinoplasty surgery to her nose.

James Keeley, defending, said Robinson had suffered mentally because of the cancer threat to her daughter.

“This was over the top self-defence, “ he added.

Judge Nigel Van der Bijl told her: “This is a serious incident and somebody may be left with a permanent injury but at least you went straight to the police and admitted what you had done.”